Impaction bone grafting for total hip revision

We used impaction bone grafting for total hip revision on 26 hips in 25 patients. Average patient age was 68 (34-89) years, and average duration from last surgery was 9 years. In all cases morselized allograft bone was used for the graft, and the femoral component was a collarless, polished, tapered stem. Average duration of surgery was 2.4 h, intraoperative blood loss 600 cc, blood replacement 2.4 units, and acute-care hospital stay 5 days. Complications were varus placement of the stem in two patients and postoperative development of varus in one, one intraoperative and three postoperative femoral fractures, and one postoperative dislocation. Average subsidence was 0.6 cm. We believe that most, if not all, of these complications could have been prevented.